Halloween pumpkin carving: Hold the knives

With a bunch of little ones running around the house, their participation in the annual pumpkin carving tradition involves cleaning up the pumpkin seeds and asking us when we’re going to be done about 40 times. But thanks to a couple of cool Halloween apps, my kids can carve and decorate pumpkins all on their very own.

For the littler ones, I recommend grabbing the Parents Carve-A-Pumkin app, which gives your kiddos the option of “carving” with their finger or decorating it with a bunch of different ghoulish designs like black cats, spider webs, and more – something even my 2-year-old can do. The kids can finish it off by choosing a background color and then saving it on your iPhone or iPod Touch, or better, emailing their bazillion pumpkin creations to Grandma.

If you’ve got kiddos with nimbler fingers and an iPad, they might enjoy Pumpkin Pal (pictured). Like the Parents app, kids can draw with a swish of their finger or choose from a slew of pre-cut facial features, all of which can be moved and sized. The graphics are fantastic, and I like how this app has a handy “undo” feature, which allows your kids to create and erase without having to start from the beginning each time. And while they can’t take a pic of their creations, the finished pumpkins are lit up and displayed on the home screen.

Best of all, both apps are just $.99, which might just make them the cheapest Halloween treat around.